Staff recommends that City Council approve the resolution to adopt the Eastern Montana Hazard Mitigation Plan and the Yellowstone County Annex.

The Eastern Montana Region Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) is the product of a regional planning process coordinated by Montana Disaster & Emergency Services (MT DES) in 2022-2023 to develop regional hazard mitigation plans covering the entire State of Montana. The purpose of hazard mitigation is to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from disasters or hazard events. The HMP will serve as a blueprint for coordinating and implementing hazard mitigation policies, programs, and projects across the Region. It identifies mitigation goals and related actions to assist the participating jurisdictions in reducing risk and preventing loss from future hazard events.

The HMP demonstrates the Region’s commitment to reducing risks from hazards and serves as a tool to help decision-makers direct mitigation activities and resources. Adoption of the HMP also maintains the jurisdictions’ eligibility for federal mitigation grants under FEMA’s HMA grant programs. The City does have grant funding that is currently contingent on adoption of this plan.

The Yellowstone County Annex builds on previous versions of the Yellowstone County Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) completed in 2019 and provides more specific information for the county than the HMP.  They should be adopted together.
 

City Council may:

• Approve; or,
• Not Approve. If not approved, the City will not have an approved document to guide us forward to prepare for hazards that face our city.  The city will also not be eligible for certain funding.

There are funding opportunities that are dependent on adoption of a hazard mitigation plan.  The City currently has $4.4M in funding waiting for approval from FEMA for projects from disaster funds that were allocated to our area after the Yellowstone River flood of 2022. If this HMP is not adopted, those funds will not be awarded to the City.